DPC leaders accuse Punjab police of 'illegally arresting' their members

Police claimed that DPC members were accused of planning the Khanpur bomb blast along the route of a Shia procession.

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Leaders of Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan (JUP) and Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) have accused the Punjab police of naming "innocent party members in terrorist activities.”

The leaders, including Mufti Muhammad Asad Darkhawasati, Qaari Khizar Hayat, Mohsin Rehmani and Shakeel Madni, said that two of their members Muhammad Wajid and Muhammad Nawaz were picked up from their madrassahs, after being accused of planning the Khanpur bomb blast along the route of a Shia procession.

“Nawaz was kidnapped by the intelligence agencies and security forces from the Model High School, Khanpur around two months ago and the school has not heard of him since then,” Mufti Darkhawasati alleged.

“People at the school are witnesses to his arrest. He [Nawaz] was never involved in any terrorist activities,” he added.

While speaking about the other arrested member, Mufti Darkhawasati said Wajid was a teacher at a madrassah in Alipur and was performing incumbent duties there for many years. “We have complete official records of his activities,” he claimed.

The JUP and DPC leaders further said that RPO Abid Qadiri had himself admitted that the blast occurred when an electricity transformer blew up and not because of a planted bomb. They urged the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter.

Mufti Darkhawasati said that “we [JUP and DPC] condemn the arrests and want an independent inquiry regarding this issue.”

Blaming police for covering their failures by staging fake encounters and arrests, the leaders exhorted that they will start countrywide protests against malpractice of law officials.

RPO Qadiri had earlier said in a press conference that two members of the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had been involved in the Khanpur bomb blast and other terrorist activities.